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[Thacobell]

19 hours ago, Graion Dilach said:

https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1202594/#Comment_1202594

Oh great. Now I'm gonna lose the only source of SoD that doesn't package it as DLC and to replace it, I'm gonna get a key for a service I don't use.

[Lurker]

On 11/1/2023 at 12:09 PM, Graion Dilach said:

Guys, could you actually not assume things about Beamdog's state on the IE games literally within the 24 hours they fixed up Android?

Sure, I have my doubts on the 64 bit PSTEE conversion promised there as well (although it would be cool if that Modron Maze issue would get a fix), but eh, if they only concentrate to the engine issues, that would be enough.

They didn't fix it because they wanted to (read: for users), but because they had to (Google requirement: comply or bust). That's my understanding of this PR thing.

Re iOS vs Android: Differs heavily by region. In the end, it's just a matter of what kind of comfy golden cage people prefer to live in for their money. Don't ask questions, consume product. Don't start to ask questions, consume next product. Follow our rules, we know what's good for you. In between, invent new pronouns.

Brave new world.

[paladin84]

iphone share was always higher in the US than android share, so it is no surprase that it is still higher, but it is not true globally. Eg here (https://explodingtopics.com/blog/iphone-android-users) they say it is 70% android vs 30% iphone globally.

However, I agree that beamdogs should keep supporting iOS, with obviously prioritising android.

[subtledoctor]

12 minutes ago, paladin84 said:

agree that beamdogs should keep supporting iOS, with obviously prioritising android

I would say, rather, that Beamdog should prioritize whichever platform has a larger customer base for expensive long-form games. There is market data out there showing that 1) iPhones are more expensive than Android phones, and 2) more iOS users tend to pay, and pay more, for apps whereas Android users tend toward free-to-play and similar apps. And U.S. teens tend to be richer than other terns around the world. Please note I make zero value judgments about this; it is dimply my understanding of facts on the ground. Based on this data, if I was selling an app at just about the highest price point that exists in the app stores, my guess would be that it is more advantageous to prioritize iOS customers over Android customers. 

That guess could be wrong! But leaving iOS years behind other platforms does not seem reasonable. Are there reasons for this? How could we know? Beamdog’s communication with customers is abominable. 

Go look at the BG subreddit, at all the BG3 players who are becoming BGEE/BG2EE customers. Beamdog should be capitalizing on this moment, sitting in possession of the most coveted IP in this corner of the internet. Instead they are puttering around with NWN and doing who knows what else. 

Edited November 2, 2023 by subtledoctor

[paladin84]

1 minute ago, subtledoctor said:

I would say, rather, that Beamdog should prioritize whichever platform has a larger customer base for expensive long-form games. There is market data out there showing that 1) iPhones are more expensive than Android phones, and 2) more iOS users tend to pay, and pay more, for apps whereas Android users tend toward free-to-play and similar apps. Based 

It is not clear what are the total numbers. Even if one random iphone user is more likely to pay than one android user, we still have more than two times more android users. I wanted to check the number of Baldur's Gate downloads (it would be easier to compare for the particular case). For andoid it shows that eg bg1 was downloaded more than 100K times (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.beamdog.baldursgateenhancededition&hl=en_US), but for apple I wasn't about to find such data. How do you see how many numbers an app was downloaded/bought?

[subtledoctor]

I would guess that is not publicly available. Beamdog knows, but they don’t communicate with the public. 

And ultimately this is immaterial. This all stems from someone expressing pessimism about future updates and someone else asking please don’t criticize Beamdog. I don’t care whether Android sales are higher than iOS sales (though, if there are fewer than 100K BGEE sales on iOS I will eat my hat) and I don’t even think iOS updates should be pushed first. It’s a question of whether updates will be pushed ever. We’re still talking about a platform with 87% of teens in the most lucrative market in the world, and anyone interested in BGEE on that platform sees 1) version lags behind every other platform; 2) no updates in six years; and 3) doesn’t fit the screen of your device. Except, oh, you don’t find out #3 until after you have paid for the app. That is shitty. This, at a time when interest in the games is higher than it’s been in years and fewer and fewer kids are using PCs. 

Yeah sorry, Beamdog comes in for some criticism here…

Edited November 2, 2023 by subtledoctor

[jastey]

Guest post approved late here.

[Graion Dilach]

Yeah, and I just arrived home and was typing to let it go by now because it lost context since.

[jastey]

Yeah, sorry, we aren't around 24/7 to approve the guest posts, I agree it's a bit frustrating but setting them on approval had a good reason.

[CoM_Solaufein]

On 11/1/2023 at 4:32 AM, InKal said:

Everybody and their dog is waiting for SCS 35, I guess. 

 

Near Infinity is reguraly updated by Argent77. Updates to ee games? beamdog moved on to make some stupid games nobody gives a shit about so only unofficial like eefixpack is in development but I wll spare you my personal opinion about that. I will also keep my personal opinion about EET for myself.

Mods are really great, like Lava mods and many others like Tidings recently and two quest mods for BG1EE, Black Hearts and Thiefs Guild for BG1. 

There are two special mods, for me personaly. One is Expanded Classes and the other Skills and Abilities. Both are amazing mods I can not play without. but there is a trap, hhaha. Both mods especially S&A can make your game extremely easy. Legacy of Bhalls is too stupid and Improved Anvil too hard (you really must try it to understand, this mod is an anomaly hahah). Only hope is Tactics reboot (it is just too small and also too easy) and maybe Angel's mod but he completely stopped updating it looks like. 

So there is really no hope. Boldur's Gate modding scene is dead, bro.

That's good. Always liked NI, can't use the old TeamBG tools on the EE games any way. Of all of those tools wish someone could update or do another Area Editor. Always liked the functionality of that.

[CoM_Solaufein]

On 11/1/2023 at 6:26 AM, lynx said:

Tooling is still regularly updated and perhaps you saw that recently a weidu GUI was released.

Beamdog got acquired and downsized, so the chances of further updates are even slimmer.

About time Weidu got something GUI related. That archaic line coding is so 70s and 80s

[Sam.]

On 11/2/2023 at 9:03 PM, CoM_Solaufein said:

Of all of those tools wish someone could update or do another Area Editor. Always liked the functionality of that.

Agreed.  It has been a while since I've done any area creation, but I always felt DLTCEP and IETME left a bit to be desired.  Have you checked out Argent77's Near Infinity Area Viewer?  I find it very useful.  Seems at least halfway there to a full fledged editor.

[Lava]

On 11/3/2023 at 3:03 AM, CoM_Solaufein said:

Of all of those tools wish someone could update or do another Area Editor. Always liked the functionality of that.

29 minutes ago, Sam. said:

I always felt DLTCEP and IETME left a bit to be desired.

Maybe, but without IETME I wouldn't have released all those mods. Even today, in the age of EE it's very useful and sure, I use it along with DLTCEP and NI, but creating the base with IETME is something I would advise to all modders that want to code their first area. It would be a huge loss if it got lost, so let's keep it online, hmm?

[Guest]

@CoM_Solaufein, I sent you a PM about the Gate Project and the update of some of your mods, if you agree to tell me what you think about it !

(The PM is Not read yet,  so I'll take the liberty to mention it here.)

[jastey]

4 hours ago, JohnBob said:

I'll take the liberty to mention it here.

it's also good info so they don't get more messages about TGP from other people.